"
"Why were you imprisoned?"
"Because--because," she replied haltingly, "I had chosen the religious
life, the which my guardian opposed. He appeared to think that some
experience of the rigors of the convent might make me less eager to
immure myself in a nunnery, which, like Pfalz Castle, is also on a
restricted island."
"Then his remedy has proved unavailing?"
"Quite. The Sisters will be very good to me, for I shall enrich their
convent with my wealth. 'Twill be vastly different from incarceration in
Pfalz."
"Hilda, I doubt that. Captivity is captivity, under whatever name you
term it. I cannot understand why one who spoke so enthusiastically just
now of hills and valleys and liberty should take the irrevocable step
which you propose; a step that will rob you forever of those joys."
The girl remained silent, and he went on, speaking earnestly:
"I think in one respect you are like myself. You love the murmur of the
trees, and the song of the running stream."
"I do, I do," she whispered, as if to herself.
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